Illuminated instrument panel



Aug. 7, 1928.

W. H. SCHULZE ILLUMINATED INSTRUMENT PANEL Filed March 20, 1925 Patented Aug. 7, 1928.

UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. SCHULZE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO STEWART-WARNER SPEEDOMETER CORPORATION, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,A CORPORATION OF VIR- GINIA.

ILLUMINATED INSTRUMENT PANEL.

Application filed March 20, 1925. 7 Serial No. 17,010.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved construction of an instrument mount for a motor vehicle hav ing means for illuminating the instruments which are carried by the mount. It consists in the elements and features of construction shown and described as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view in the form of a section of the forward portion of a vehicle body in which are located the steering post, control pedals and speedchanging lever, showing conventionally in r elevation an instrument mount embodying this invention with an illuminating device by which the portion of the vehicle body in which the several operating and controlling parts of the vehicle are located may bell-- luminated.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view of the nature of a fore-and-aft section through the partof the vehicle represented in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section through the instrument mount at such a position as indicated by the line, 3-3, on Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a detail'section at the line, 44 on Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a section at the line, 5-5, on Figure 3 upon a reduced scale. v Figure 6 is a section at the line, 66, on Figure 3. Y

The instrument mount which embodies this invention comprises a marginal forward frame member, 10, and a rear frame, 11, the two members being constructed for being secured togetherby a suitable number of bolts distributedv about the periphery and inserted from the rear through suitable lugs, 11, with which the rear member, 11, is provided and engaging the annular rearwardlyprojecting body, 10 of the forward member, 10, one of such bolts being seen at 11 in Figure 3. The forward annular member, 10, is of the nature of a bezel for holding a glass-in-common, 14, for visibly enclosing the several instruments accommodated in the mount. which glass.in-common may be en tered from the rear side of said member, 10, before the two members, 10 and 11, are vassembled, and for receiving also a face platein-common, 13, having openings hereinafter designated registering with the faces of the several instruments accommodated in the mount, said face plate-in-common and glassin-common being spaced apart in the forward frame member by thespacing ring, 15,

between which and the glass there may be interposed a cushioning gasket, 16. The rear member, 11, is formed with apertures for accommodating theseveral instruments to be carried by the mount, each of said several instruments being presumed to be complete in itself before assembling the mount, and the apertures being fitted to the contour of the respective instruments and rabbeted as seen at 11 with respect to the seat of the instrument, 17 Whose seating in said mount member, 11, shown in Figure 3 may be understood as indicating in general the form or method of seating the other instruments,

theparticular method of seating and'securmg the instruments in the mount, being, however, not an essential part of this invention, and therefore not deemed to require any further description. The general form of the mount issubstantially oval as seen in Figure 1, the instrument, 17, being intended to be understood as a combined odometer and speedometer of familiar form and character. which may be'understood, so far as concerned in this invention, from the form of the face plate of said instrument shown in Figure 3 havmg the aperture, 17, for reading the speedometer indications, and the aperture, 17 for reading the odometer indications, the speedometer and odometer mechanisms respectively. not being shown. At one side of the mount preferably at the upper side as mounted in service as seen in Figure 1 and preferably substantially midway between the ends, the rear mount member 11, has a rearwardly projecting boss 11 apertured for inglass.

ample clearance the lamp bulb, 19. At the forward side of the mount member, 11 the cavity, 11, of the boss, 11, is coun terbored or rabbeted to receive a reflector hood, 21, which fits snugly in the counterbore, being stopped by the rabbet shoulder, 11, whereby the hood is positioned to its protrusion from the forward face of the rear mount membertoward the glass, 1- and said hood is dimensioned for substantially occupying by its protruding forward end the space available back of the This reflector hood is apertured on the side toward the instrument, 17, in the plane and substantially to the full extent of the depth of the inter-space between the forward face of the rear mount member, 11, and the rear face of the glass, the aperture,

21, occupying .somewhat more than half the entire circumference of the hood so that it opens not only fowardly or downwardly toward the instrument, 1?, but also laterally toward the instruments, 22, 23, 2a and shown in Figure 1 arranged laterally and upwardly with respect to said instrument, 17, and having-their faces registering with the face plate apertures 22, 23 24" and 25, respectively.

From the foregoing description it may be nderstood that the light rays from the lamp, 19, are reflected from the interior surface of the reflector hood out through the aperture, 21 of the hood, some rays being emitted without reflection directly through said aperture, the rayswhich pass through said aperture otherwise than parallel to the plane of the glass-in-common and face plateiu-comnion being reflected by the glass and by the face plate back and forth across the inter-space, with the effect of general diffus'on of the light, some of the rays being, however, reflected'fron'i the glass directly onto the faces of the instruments, but the general effect being diffusion of the light over the entire area of the face plate-inconnnon and of the exp sod reading faces of the instruments; At the lower side the annular body, 10", of the forward mount n'ieinber, 10, is apertured as seen at 28 in the plane of the inner space between-the glassin-common and face plate-in-coinmon and with the width equal substantially to the depth of said inter-space. nis aperture, 28, extends through the greater part of the lower curve of the said mount member, 10, with occas'ional interruptions as seen at 28 in Figure to avoid unduly weakening the annular body, 10 of said mount member and thus affords egress for light, both direct and diffused, from the lamp, for illuminating the portion of the vehicle body in which are situated the steering column, control petals and speed-change gear lever as seen in Figures 1 and 2.

In addition to the light emitted through the aperture, 28, further provision is made for illuminating; the floor of the car below the instrument board by way of apertures, 26 and 27, formed in the mount member, 11, immediately below the boss, li the light being reflected through these apertures from the inner surface of the top of the reflector hood, 21, and the inner surface of the glassin-common, 1 1.

I claim:

1. An instrumentmount for motor vehicles and the like, comprising an encompassing front frame and a back frame member adapted to be secured together, the back .member having apertures for insertion and securement of the several instruments to be served; a face plate-in-common occupying the entire area of the front frame opening, said face plate having openings registering with the faces of the several instruments for reading the same, and a glass-in-common over all the instruments secured in the front frame occupying substantially the entire opening thereof in the front of said face plate-in-common; the back frame member having near one lateral edge an aperture for mounting a lamp, and a reflecting hood overhanging the lamp and open toward the opposite lateral edge and toward the ends of the frame for diffusing the light under the back of the glass-in-common, the hood being formed and positioned, as to the opening through which the light is directed over the face plate, for causing a substantial portion of the rays of the lamp to impinge on the back or inner side of the glass at an angle for being reflected therefrom onto the eX- posed faces of the instrument.

2. 1n the construction defined in claim 1, foregoing, the glass-in-common and the face Pl2LtQlI1COETl1T1OI1 being narrowly spaced apart, and the opening in the reflector hood for emergence of the light beam being between the planes of said glass-in-common and face plate-in-common; whereby a substantial portion of the light rays are refleet-ed back'and forth between the glass and the face plate at angles to the surfaces of the glass tending to prevent the light rays penetrating the 3. In the construction defined in claim 1, foregoing, the glass-in-common and the face plate-in-common being narrowly spaced apart, and the opening in thereflector hood for emergence of the light beam being between the planes of said glass-in-common and face platein-cominon; whereby the light is reflected from the facing surfaces of the glass and face plate for causing general diffusion of the light behind the glass, the frame being apertured at the lower side in the zone of the narrow space. between the glass-in-com1non and the face plate-in-common for emergence of the reflected rays and those originally substantially parallel to said glass and face plate, downwardly from the instrument mount to illuminate the area of the car floor below the same.

4. An instrument mount for motor vehicles and the like comprising a member for accommodating and supporting a plurality of indicating instruments with their indicating faces exposed forwardly, and means for mounting a glass-in-common over the which the instrument faces are exposed for readmg and means for directing a portion of the light from said lamp onto said lnstrument faces, the said mount having apertures leading from said face thereof back through the mountin a direction for the admission of light tl1ere-through downwardly for illuminating the floor of the vehicle. 1

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 16 day of March, 1925.

WILLIAM H. SCHULZE. 

